The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has invited public comments on the draft clearing Houses (Licensing and Operations) Regulations, 2016, and for this purpose, has published the said regulations in the official gazette. The document has been placed on the SECP's website. The regulations have also been disseminated among various prominent stakeholders for consultation purposes. Comments received on the regulations within 15 days will be considered and evaluated.
As required under the Securities Act, 2015, the draft regulations provide for matters relating to licensing, duties and obligations of clearing house, requirements relating to audit and accounts, appointment and conduct of directors, chief executive officer, chief regulatory officer and chief risk officer, fit and proper criteria for directors and senior management officers etc. Under the draft regulations, the financial resource requirements for a clearing house are proposed to be increased to an adequate level, given the critical functions being performed by a clearing house. For good governance, shareholding criteria has been specified for a clearing house besides requiring the clearing house to appoint one-third independent directors on its board and constitute risk committee to supervise its risk management operations.
Among other requirements, the clearing house is being made responsible for setting up settlement guarantee fund, obtaining default insurance cover, putting in place robust risk management system and ensuring data secrecy and security. The clearing house has to make adequate arrangements for resolving disputes and redressal of grievances of customers.-PR